Classical boys hoop beats English in OT to qualify for tournament

LYNN ? It’s games like this that make the Classical/English rivalry so great.Behind a monster night from Uche Nwokeji, Classical rallied to beat the Bulldogs, 74-71, in overtime, and in the process qualify for the state tournament, in an epic affair in front of a rocking house at English’s Cavanagh Gym, Friday night.Click here for a photo gallery of last night’s gameNwokeji scored a game-high 32 points and grabbed 18 rebounds (11 offensive), but he wasn’t the only hero for the Rams (10-9). Jorge Perez (11 points) stepped up with a pair of big threes, one at the end of the third quarter when it looked like English was about to pull away, and with 2:04 left in regulation to cap a fourth quarter rally and tie the game at 63-63.And there was Derek Edmonds, who hadn’t scored since the second quarter, but converted a pair of free throws to all but ice the game with 1.4 seconds left and send the Rams into the post-season, at the expense of their crosstown rivals.”They really showed some integrity and emotional toughness,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said of his players.English (12-6) had four players score in double figures, led by Tizuani Boyles (18 points), while Fred Hogan added 14 and Keandre Stanton and Kadeem Greene had 12 each. Had the Bulldogs won, the likely hero would have been Hogan, who drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing with 18.3 seconds left in regulation. Stanton is 10 points away from the coveted 1,000-point mark for his career.”Any time you play Lynn Classical, the records go out the window. There was some extra incentive because they had their tournament berth (at stake) tonight, and we had a little bit of incentive of our own with trying to win the NEC North by ourselves,” English coach Mike Carr said. “I thought we pressed a little bit offensively tonight, and the game was played in spurts.”Classical went on a 12-0 run to take a 22-14 lead in the first minute of the first quarter, and led by as many as 10 (38-28) when Davon Morris opened the second half with a 3-pointer and a steal and layup.Pushing the game to a faster tempo, the Bulldogs then held the Rams without a field goal for a 7:26 stretch that included a 20-1 run for English. Greene was left wide open on an in-bounds pass and then Erick Rosario converted a basket off a steal to give the Bulldogs their largest lead at 50-39, with 1:12 left in the third quarter.Nwokeji scored four points in a row for the Rams, but a 3-pointer by Rosario got the lead back up to 10, before Perez stuck a 3-pointer from the left elbow just before the buzzer to make the score 53-46 at the end of the third quarter.With Nwokeji grinding it out down low, Classical picked away at English’s lead throughout the fourth quarter, until Perez’s second big 3-pointer tied the game. Nwokeji converted one of two from the line and then made a layup after Moise Builou kept the ball alive to give Classical a 66-63 lead with 1:05 left.A miss by English and then a turnover by Classical gave the ball to the Bulldogs with 28.4 seconds left in regulation. Hogan got the ball in the corner, came off a pick and buried a three to tie the game. Morris then got a good look from about 18 feet, but his shot from the right elbow only found the rim.”We knew what they were going to run,” said Grassa, of the play that resulted in Hogan’s tying shot. “I told the kids to watch for (Hogan) coming off a pick. We just didn’t play it tight enough.”The Rams scored the first four points in the overtime, but a free throw by Stevie Collins and a steal and layup by Boyles closed English’s deficit back to one point.The teams traded one hoop each, and Stanton got the ball back for English after Builou missed a couple of free throws with 9.1 seconds left. He tried to go the length of the court, but slipped just outside the paint, and the ball trickled to Edmonds, who was fouled right away.”That’s normally not what you want, your five (center) taking the ball coast-to-coast, but Stanton is athletic enough and he had made th